"In the last 400m, I just tore off and made it my race."
By Cory Mull - MileSplit
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PHILADELPHIA -- With less than 1,200 meters remaining on Friday in the Championship of America boys 3,000m presented by U.S. Marines at the Penn Relays, the moves started coming.
First, it was Larry Josh Edwards, who decided it was time to pick things up. And then not long after, 400 meters later, Conard's Callum Sherry answered it with one of his own.
Edwards wasn't having it.
The Morgantown University (WV) senior waited just 400 meters more before he throttled up again and never looked back -- well, he looked just once -- darting to the line for his chance at glory.
In the final straightaway, Edwards' intensity was on full display. The Oregon recruit pounded his chest and screamed the entire way through the line, winning in 8:20.31.
"I was just thinking, going into that last lap, feeling a lot better than the person in front of me," Edwards said. "And I kind of let Callum lead that through the 8 and I was just like, 'I can do this.'"
"In the last 400m, I just tore off and made it my race."
While Edwards finished with a new U.S. No. 1 time, more importantly, he left with the win. Three years prior, as a freshman, the West Virginian was 12th in 8:39.
Later, he compared the race to his own state championships.
"The crowd was electric, (they) gave you that great feeling," he said.
Sherry, meanwhile, closed off an impressive run on his own, finishing in second in 8:25.86. Annapolis' Luke Coffin, who led for large stretches over the first 1,400m, was third overall in 8:29.75.
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